Scott here with another episode of the History and Plug podcast.

The U.S.

Dollar's origin story doesn't begin in Philadelphia or Washington, and it doesn't even

begin in the United States or at a time when America even existed.

It all starts in a half-frozen mining valley in 16th century Bohemia, where Saxon miners

accidentally named their town after a saint and set the world's dominant currency in motion.

The dollar, which was a nickname for the Joaquin dollar in German, thrived as a commodity

for merchants and bankers. It was a big silver coin that was trusted around the world.

It then follows a path where it

leads to the industrial collapse at the heart of Spain's 17th century silver empire, then ends up in

America when people prefer it to English shillings. What we find out is that the dollar always existed

outside of one empire's control. Sometimes it existed alongside paper money. Sometimes people would invent money

when the need arose. This is true in colonial America when each states had their own currency,

but it was also true in other times like the Great Depression, like when a Maytag dealer in Iowa

printed his own dollars to keep the town alive. Today's episode is part one of a two-part

series with Brendan Greeley, author of The Almighty

Dollar 500 years of the world's most powerful money. We dismantle the idea that America created

or has ever truly controlled the dollar, that it's not created out of nothing by the Federal

Reserve, but by commercial banks, and it's not even only created in America. London banks

create Euro-Dollars all the time and continue to grow the legend of the dollar that's not even only created in America. London banks create Euro dollars all the time

and continue to grow the legend of the dollar that's not fictional but also not completely real.

If you ever wondered why the dollar still rules the world and whether that's guaranteed to last,

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